Start your travel experience in the paradise garden of Lake Constance, one of Europe's most beautiful holiday regions. Germany's southern-most "island", the picturesque city of Lindau, is a delightful work of art, combining the Gothic with Renaissance and Baroque.

Lake Constance has two other islands which you should also make a point of visiting: the island Reichenau is not only the region's supplier of vegetables, but it also has a UNESCO World Heritage site: the Romanesque monastery buildings, a group of three churches dating from the 9th to the 12th century. Exotic, flowering plants await you on the island of Mainau. Palm trees and orange trees thrive in the warm climate; there are orchids, tulips and dahlias of glowing colours. Classical music-lovers will be enchanted by concerts in the castle's courtyard. Constance´s illustrious past is still very much alive in its picturesque old town with its many historic buildings. And surrounding all that is the charm of a landscape by a wonderfully clean and adventurous lake.

Lake Constance is a holiday region where the whole family will be happy. Not only does it have all the water you could ever need for bathing, wind-surfing, sailing and canoeing, but this is also a region with wonderful natural landscapes for hiking, cycling and relaxing. No question about it: warm, traditional hospitality comes as standard in these parts; goumets will gain particular pleasure from all the fish dishes and the Baden wines.

At the Upper Rhine there are new, unforgettable impressions to tempt you: a string of tiny villages lined up along the riverbank, straight out of a picture book: Waldshut-Tiengen, Laufenburg and Rheinfelden. The dramatic Rhine waterfalls await you near the Swiss city of Schaffhausen. In the romantic spa resort of Bad Säckingen you will find an historic wooden bridge across the Rhine which has linked Germany and its neighbouring Switzerland for 400 years.